Analysis and design of concrete pavements - Research Paper Example

Concrete pavements are durable surfaces that are laid down on roads and walkways primarily to sustain vehicular or foot traffic. Throughout the history, Concrete has always been as one of the most durable, cheap and reliable materials for conventional pavements found in the highways, streets, airports as well as residential and business parking areas. This is particularly attributed to the various properties of Concrete such as workability, strength and durability. For example, apart from offering the best riding surface, concrete is also widely believed to be economical, durable and sustainable solution for most surfaces (Shackel, 2008) Generally, there are currently two main methods of making concrete pavements namely the slip form and the fixed form paving.

In the slipform paving method, machine usually rides on the treads over a particular area to be paved before fresh concrete is deposited on the paved surface. Next, a paving machine is then used to spread, screed and consolidate the concrete into a continuous operation. On the other hand, fixed-form paving involves setting and aligning stationary metal forms on solid foundation and then rigidly staking them. Concrete is then spread using a mechanical spreader before it is consolidated, finished and cured.

After putting the finish to the concrete pavements, joints are should be created in order to help control cracking as well as to provide a system of relief for the potential concrete expansion due to moisture or temperature changes. In most cases, joints are usually created by sawing. Lastly, the surface is then textured before the concrete is completely dry in order to provide some form of skid resistance. Thickness of concrete pavements should be designed such that the stress and strains developed is less than allow able measurements gotten from prior performance information.

The design of the pavement must keep moisture out of the sub base, capping, and subgrade